Patrick G. O'Donnell, 66, has been accused in numerous lawsuits of molesting altar boys, students and Boy Scouts decades ago. He's admitted to molesting at least 30 boys, and the claims against him — about 60 — played a large part in the Spokane Diocese's bankruptcy filing five years ago.
O'Donnell is expected to take the witness stand this afternoon. But the trial is not about whether he is innocent or guilty. Both sides agree he committed terrible acts of molestation and sexual violence against many boys during his career as a priest — including to the two men now suing.
It's about whether and when the Seattle Archdiocese knew about O'Donnell's history, and whether the archdiocese is liable for his actions when he served at Seattle's St. Paul Church from 1976 to 1978.
The Spokane Diocese had sent O'Donnell to Seattle for sexual-deviancy treatment. Six weeks after he arrived, he was allowed to start serving as associate pastor at St. Paul's. While in Seattle, he also earned a doctorate in psychology at the University of Washington.
The two plaintiffs say it was during this period that O'Donnell abused them. They say — and at least one Spokane Diocese official has also said — that Spokane church leaders had told the Seattle Archdiocese all about O'Donnell's history.
The two plaintiffs further allege that Seattle and Spokane church leaders worked together to cover up O'Donnell's abuses in Spokane. Kosnoff promised to show documents — and perhaps more important, he said, a mysterious lack of documents — to demonstrate a behind-the-scenes complicity in allowing O'Donnell to act as a parish priest despite his known history of abusing boys.
-
added by:
![]()
treasureac
- treasureac posted Children abused by priest after Archdiocese ignored "yellow signs of danger," says lawyer 3 years ago
- 3 comments
